It’s Monday. You drag yourself out of bed, sleepwalk through showering, brushing your teeth and getting ready for work. You’re now on the tube, surrounded by solemn faces rocking back and forth in the rattling carriage. You sit and think of the problems ahead of you this week: the tough client conversation you need to have, the looming project deadlines and the ever-growing life admin to-do list.

“Could we…” Anna starts before Cathy shouts, “there is nothing you can do here!” Cathy goes on and on. Anna and I nodding in complete agreement at the berating we are receiving on behalf of our masters. It was a face I was very adept at making, smiling and nodding whilst I got shouted at. ‘Yes, you are right, we are assholes.’

Maybe it was the gym. You got the membership, bought the gear, and rode the wave of motivation for a week or two. But then work got busy, life got noisy, the wave flattened, you found excuses not to go and the new ritual slowly faded.

As I write to you and reflect back now, I think back to that moment of taking the decision. I was stepping into the unknown. I, as we all humans do, crave certainty, but I intentionally chose a path of great uncertainty. At the time, my mind was spiralling through all the things that could go wrong. What if I failed? What if we ran out of money? What if I wasn’t good enough?

As I write this entry, reflecting on my journey through business school, consulting and corporate, I know something must change. I don’t have the language or the plans but at 35,000 feet, some light has crept into my spirit – something Plato wrote about 2,400 years ago.

As I write this entry, reflecting on my journey through business school, consulting and corporate, I know something must change. I don’t have the language or the plans but at 35,000 feet, some light has crept into my spirit – something Plato wrote about 2,400 years ago.